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Services To Offer As An Offline Consultant

As an offline consultant there are so many services you can offer. However, you want to focus on one or two, then branch out to a whole suite of services. There is no one right way to start. Some people like to do SEO, personally it is too tedious for me. Here are some ideas to start with. It doesn’t matter. Just start somewhere.

FEW IDEAS ON SERVICES THAT YOU COULD OFFER
 Web Development
Developing their websites and blogs, SILO structures, email campaigns.

 Training
After you develop their online business, you could offer personal training services where you show them how to maintain their websites, update their pages, etc.

 Content Development
Create articles for marketing purposes, website article updates, brochures, press releases etc. You need to create a service page on a professionally designed website that clearly outlines the different service packages you are offering, along with an estimated price structure, or even better, giving visitors the opportunity to fill in a form in order to request a custom quote.

 Promotional Material Creation
You could offer to integrate an affiliate program, provide affiliate creatives and so on.

 Email Marketing
One service every business needs but few actually have is email marketing. Most companies that build websites don’t offer this service to their clients, so even companies that already have websites aren’t usually using it. It’s also an unbelievably important tool. Every business relies on repeat business to sustain it. If customers don’t come back, a business can’t survive very long, especially in smaller markets. Using email marketing, a company can keep customers coming back again and again. They can send out messages for special offers, coupons, announcements, updates, and special events. This keeps customers reminded that they exist, and also bring customers back in to the location to take advantage of special offers. You could offer to simply set up the email marketing system for the client, or you could charge a monthly fee for managing their email system each month. This is yet another potential source of recurring income.

 Site Building and/or Renovation
Obviously, the most common service will be building or revamping a website. Many companies don’t have a website at all, and a lot of those that do have sites that were built by amateurs and are too hard to update. I recommend using WordPress to build the website for most companies. It’s flexible, easy to use, and makes it very easy for the client to update if he doesn’t want to pay you a monthly fee to do so.

 Hosting
Every website must have hosting, and there are a couple of ways you can make money from your clients with it. The most obvious is to simply host their site yourself and charge them a monthly fee for it. If you’re not up for the responsibility of hosting your clients’ sites yourself, you can sign up as an affiliate for various web hosting companies and send your clients to them through an affiliate link. Companies like HostGator pay up to $100 or more for every customer you refer, so this could be quite lucrative if you get a lot of clients.

 SEO and Traffic Service or Lead Generation
Obviously, the websites you build will need traffic, which means you will need to do some search engine optimization and other traffic work. You’ll need to generate backlinks for the site, get the company listed in various online directories including Google’s local search, and more. You can charge for the initial setup and optimization, as well as any ongoing monthly services like backlink building. This could be a great additional source of income each month.

 Maintenance
Some websites require very little maintenance, and others must be updated with sales and specials or inventory on a very regular basis. Additionally, SEO may also require some ongoing maintenance in the form of tweaking pages and getting backlinks. It takes a bit of work to get to the top and stay there. These are services you could charge a monthly fee for. You could ask your client what type of updates they would need, and then price your service accordingly. This is a critical step of the process, even if you intend on advertising your services entirely offline, because once you’ve snagged a few new customers, they might want to verify that you, yourself have an online presence and know exactly what you’re talking about.

If you are intending on offering design services, consider creating a sample portfolio that showcases designs that you have completed for past clients, or if you intend on offering online marketing campaigns, you should outline exactly what is included with each package as well as any available case studies you have at your disposal, showcasing exactly what you can do. If you are planning to outsource the majority of the work, also keep in mind the costs associated with hiring freelancers and make sure that you will be able to generate a profit based on different price structures.

Once you have begun to work with a handful of offline businesses, you will have a better idea as to any price resistance and can adjust your price plan accordingly. In the next chapter, we will take a look at the different ways of reaching out to these businesses and building your client list.